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Ceratiola

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Ceratiola

Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Subfamily: Ericoideae
Tribe: Empetreae
Genus: Ceratiola
Michx.
Species:
C. ericoides
Binomial name
Ceratiola ericoides
Michx.[2]
Synonyms[2]
  • Ceratiola falcatula Gand.
  • Empetrum aciculare Bertol.

Ceratiola is a genus of flowering plants with a single species, Ceratiola ericoides, a shrub endemic to the Southeastern United States.

Names

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C. ericoides is commonly known as Florida rosemary,[3] sand heath,[4] scrub rosemary,[5] or sandhill rosemary.[6]

Description

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Florida rosemary can grow to 1.8 metres (6 ft) tall. The growth form is a rounded shrub with dense branching. Dark green leaves are needle-like, eight to twelve mm long and one mm wide, and smell like the herb rosemary. The yellow to brown flowers are small. The green or yellow fruit is 3 millimetres (1⁄8 in) in diameter, and is a juicy drupe containing two seeds.[7]

Reproduction

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The Florida rosemary is dioecious and wind pollinated. Flowers are in the leaf axils on the previous years growth.[8] Flowers bloom on leaf axils of the previous year's growth from September through October. Fruits ripen in January through April. Flowers and fruit may remain on the plant year-round.[9] Plants do not produce seed until they are 10 to 15 years old. Seed production per plant increases until age 20 to 30 years. Seed production begins to fall off in plants more than 35 years old.[10][a]

Florida rosemary plants release a chemical called ceratiolin into the soil, which breaks down into hydrocinnamic acid, which in turn inhibits the growth of other plants, and of rosemary seeds (a process called allelopathy). Decomposition by microbiota, fire, and other disturbances to the soil break down the hydrocinnamic acid, allowing other plants to grow, and rosemary seeds to sprout.[12]

Taxonomy

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Ceratiola ericoides is the sole species in the genus Ceratiola.[2] It was formerly included in the plant family Empetraceae, which since 2002 has been reclassified as the tribe Empetreae in the Ericoideae subfamily of the Ericaceae family.[3][13]

Distribution and habitat

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The species is native to subtropical scrub and dry sandy habitats on the Atlantic Coastal Plain in the southeastern United States, including Georgia and South Carolina, throughout Florida, and in coastal counties of Alabama and Mississippi.[14] It commonly occurs in Florida scrubs together with sand pine and evergreen scrub oaks.[15]

Ecology

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The fruit and seeds are consumed primarily by the Florida harvester ant, the oldfield mouse, the eastern towhee, and the Florida scrub jay. Seeds eaten by ants and mice are destroyed, while those in fruits eaten by birds pass through the birds' digestive tracts unharmed. Seeds in soil lose viability in less than 10 years.[16]

Florida scrub communities typically experience fires at 15 to 100 year intervals,[17] which kill all plants, including rosemary.[18] If a scrub patch burns less than ten years after a previous fire, there will not be seeds available in the soil to sprout into new rosemary plants. Johnson suggests that the falloff in seed production after a plant passes 35 years in age indicates that fires usually occur no more than 40 years after a previous fire, so that there is no selective pressure to continue producing large seed crops past 40 years.[19]

Notes

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  1. ^ The age of Florida rosemary plants may be estimated by counting branching nodes on main stems, as branching normally occurs once a year. Node count correlates closely to ring count in the base stem. On older plants, older branches may die, or droop down to the ground, establishing roots at the contact point, so that nodes on the new growth are not matched by growth rings in the original stem, making it difficult to determine the age of such plants.[11]

References

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  1. ^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0".
  2. ^ a b c "Ceratiola ericoides". Alabama Plant Atlas. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b Johnson 1982, p. 170.
  4. ^ NRCS. "Ceratiola ericoides". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Scrub rosemary (Ceratiola ericoides)". The Virtual UCF (University of Central Florida) Arboretum. May 16, 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  6. ^ "December Native Plant of the Month: Sandhill rosemary". State Botanical Garden of Georgia. December 11, 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  7. ^ Miller, Debbie; Thetford, Mark (October 4, 2018). "Florida rosemany, Ceratiola ericoides". IFAS Extension. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  8. ^ Gibson & Menges 1994, p. 338.
  9. ^ Schmidt 2007, Study species.
  10. ^ Johnson 1982, pp. 171–172.
  11. ^ Johnson 1982, pp. 170–172.
  12. ^ Richardson & Hall 2004, p. 12.
  13. ^ Kron et al. 2002, pp. 336–337.
  14. ^ "Species: Ceratiola ericoides". Fire Effects Information System. United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  15. ^ Myers 1990, p. 151.
  16. ^ Johnson 1982, p. 172.
  17. ^ Menges & Hawkes 1998, pp. 936–937.
  18. ^ Myers 1990, pp. 167–168.
  19. ^ Johnson 1982, p. 173.

Sources

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  • Gibson, David J.; Menges, Eric S. (June 1994). "Population structure and spatial pattern in the dioecious shrub Ceratiola ericoides". Journal of Vegetation Science. 5 (3): 337–346. Bibcode:1994JVegS...5..337G. doi:10.2307/3235857. JSTOR 3235857.
  • Johnson, Ann F. (July 1982). "Some Demographic Characteristics of the Florida Rosemary Ceratiola ericoides Michx". The American Midland Naturalist. 108 (1): 170–174. doi:10.2307/2425306. JSTOR 2425306.
  • Kron, K.A.; Judd, W.S.; Stevens, P.F.; Crayn, D.M.; Anderberg, A.A.; Gadek, P.A.; Quinn, C.J. & Luteyn, J.L. (2002). "Phylogenetic Classification of Ericaceae: Molecular and Morphological Evidence". The Botanical Review. 68 (3): 335–423. doi:10.1663/0006-8101(2002)068[0335:pcoema]2.0.co;2. S2CID 35699816.
  • Menges, Eric S.; Hawkes, Christine V. (November 1998). "Interactive Effects of Fire and Microhabitat on Plants of Florida Scrub". Ecological Applications. 8 (4): 935–946. doi:10.1890/1051-0761 (inactive 1 November 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  • Myers, Roland L. (1990). "Scrub and High Pine". In Myers, Ronald L.; Ewel, John J. (eds.). Ecosystems of Florida. Orlando, Florida: University of Central Florida Press. pp. 150–193. ISBN 0-8130-1022-5.
  • Richardson, Donald R.; Hall, Jaclyn (Winter 2004). "The Last Remaining Rosemary Bald in Pinellas County, Florida". Florida Scientist. 67 (1): 9–17. JSTOR 24321895.
  • Schmidt, John Paul (6 September 2007). "Sex ratio and spatial patterns of males and females in the dioecious sandhill shrub, Ceratiola ericoides ericoides (Empetreaceae) Michx". Plant Ecology. 196 (2): 281–288. doi:10.1007/s11258-007-9353-2.
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